At last month's WACL event, Sir Martin Sorrell invited members of the advertising community to consider that to play a greater role in leading the industry, women need to be more "aggressive".
Eyebrows were raised for two reasons. Firstly it suggests that women lack leadership qualities as they are inherently male. And secondly because leadership is the opposite of aggression.
"Aggression" comes from the Latin aggressio, meaning attack. To lead with a take-no-prisoners approach one must be armed, ruthless, and – unfortunately, as the gender connotations imply – a man.
The reality is somewhat different from social semantics. Personally I have met (and feared) equal numbers of aggressive men and women.
However, society continues to encourage men to get what they want through balls and bravery while women are expected to succeed by being "liked".
As Tara Mohr writes in her 2014 book Playing Big, "For millennia, we [women] could ensure our survival by complying with what was approved of or desired by those with greater [economic and political] power.
Being likeable, or at least acceptable, to stronger, powerful people was a survival strategy." This perhaps explains why aggression is perceived as acceptable trait in men, but criticised in women.
Being a "cold hearted bitch" is at worst unnatural, at best is not playing to the rules the rest of us feel forced to play by.
So should women demand their social right to be aggressive alongside their male colleagues? The short answer is no. Aggressive behaviour is under attack, backed being proved to be unproductive and inefficient for business.
Entrepreneur Margaret Hefernan in her opening talk for TEDWomen last month eloquently told her listeners, don’t be a "super chicken". Research in both the farm yard and the business world found that teams of brilliant individuals (or fertile chickens) were ultimately less efficient than teams of average intelligence but collaborative or harmonious groups.
In fact the cage of super chickens pecked each other to death.
Our industry may argue that as the scale of change and impact escalates there is no time for communal discussion and debate. In fact it is more paramount than ever to open the doors for an open approach to problem solving.
Computational geneticist Pardis Sabeti, who also spoke at TEDWomen, reminded us that the scientists during the Ebola crisis of 2014 did not have time to indulge in being academic heroes, mulling selfishly over emerging data then gloriously revealing the answer.
Instead, they published the emerging data immediately and publicly, reaping the benefit of a 24/7 global community of interested parties to assist in solving a problem which mutated day by day and killed thousands.
Human beings are self-motivated and this is often where leadership falls over. The glamour in the title of strategy lead or creative director is being the hero of the next big campaign. But Heffernan (and implicitly Sabeti) emphasised that social connections triumph over individual intelligence.
Heffernan cites a MIT study that asked volunteers to solve problems in groups. Groups with the highest IQs or a strong dominate leader were not the most efficient or creative. Rather the seemingly average group, who were distinguished only by high levels of social sensitivity, collaborated together for the most successful solution. These groups had more women in them but no shining stars.
Great leading is building social harmony where both your own and others' objectives are met. Everyone wins. Executive coach and founder of Grow People Alison Chadwick revealed to SMG in a recent leadership programme how behaviour is fundamental to the game of getting what you want.
- "I lose and you lose," is passive aggressive behaviour. A stale mate of opposed opinions.
- "I lose but you win" is passive behaviour. I do as I am told but neither learn or enjoy this exchange.
- "I win but you lose" is aggressive behaviour. My ideas/rights/objectives are more important than yours.
- "I win and you win" is assertive behaviour.
Assertive behaviour relies on confidence to articulate opinions while being able to listen to alternatives to ensure that the solution works for everyone; you, your team and your clients. Communication is open and people’s needs are considered.
Lindsay Pattison, president of WACL responded to Sorrell's statement and agrees. She said: "Collaboration, empathy and flexibility are all crucial for effective leadership… and an A word, but I would call it assertiveness."
Assertiveness, Alison taught us, is achieved through four wonderful qualities: Clarity; Compassion; Courage; Curiosity.
These are particularly wonderful because they are completely gender neutral. Leadership is not lonely or male work. It is social, open and humble work.
Don't be aggressive. Be assertive. SMG's philosophy to leadership is not linked to a job title. Everyone must brave, clear and disrupt the status quo through their work. Everyone must be a leader.
Heather Dansie is associate research director at Starcom MediaVest Group.